Aviation technology analysis with Vector. Electric aircraft, avionics advances, eVTOL certification, satellite connectivity, and the engineering innovations shaping the future of flight.
United Airlines committed $1 billion to Archer Aviation's Midnight eVTOL before a single paying passenger flew - here's why that bet is more credible than it sounds.
Heart Aerospace scrapped its all-electric ES-19 in 2022 over battery limitations, pivoting to the hybrid-electric 30-seat ES-30 targeting service by 2028-2029.
JetZero's Z-4 blended wing body demonstrator, backed by a $235M Air Force contract, targets 50% fuel burn reduction and a 2027 first flight.
How Rocket Lab's mid-air rocket recovery program placed aviation's pilot-in-command principle at the heart of modern space launch operations.
The NEXRAD imagery on your cockpit display is 15–20 minutes old - learn why this latency exists and what it means for safe weather avoidance.
Beta Technologies is building the fixed-wing ALIA electric aircraft alongside its own ECHO charging network - solving aviation's electric infrastructure problem before it can become one.
Sustainable aviation fuel is chemically identical to Jet-A but faces a thousand-fold production gap - here's what the feedstock math actually shows, and why power-to-liquid may be the only pathway that scales.
CFM International's RISE program targets 20%+ fuel burn savings using a nacelle-free open fan engine, with entry into service planned for the mid-2030s.
Electra's hybrid-electric eSTOL aircraft uses 1960s-era blown lift aerodynamics and modern electric motors to target a 150-foot takeoff roll for 9-passenger regional service.
The FAA's 2020 ADS-B mandate created an unintended surveillance network; here's what pilots need to know about Privacy ICAO Address and LADD enrollment.
The Garmin GFC 500 brings AHRS-integrated digital autopilot and envelope protection to legacy piston aircraft, changing what safety looks like across the GA fleet.
The Perlan Mission Two is a pressurized glider using Andean mountain waves to conduct science in the stratosphere - and it holds the world glider altitude record above 76,000 feet.
Certified MEMS-based solid-state attitude indicators from Garmin, uAvionix, and Aspen are making the failure-prone vacuum pump obsolete in IFR-certified GA aircraft.
Boom Supersonic's XB-1 demonstrator flew supersonic in January 2024, making the strongest case in two decades that commercial supersonic travel can return.
Boom Supersonic's XB-1 demonstrator reached Mach 1.12 in March 2024, producing the first real supersonic aerodynamic data from a privately funded program since Concorde retired in 2003.
Joby Aviation has completed Stage 4 of FAA type certification for the S-4 eVTOL - further along than any competitor - with a Part 135 air carrier certificate already in hand.
Multilateration (MLAT) tracks any transponder-equipped aircraft using time-difference geometry - no GPS required - filling the surveillance gaps your cockpit display doesn't show.
Sierra Space's Dream Chaser is the only spacecraft heading to the ISS that lands on a runway - and its 17–22 degree descent angle at 170–190 knots changes everything about how you think about orbital return.
The Cirrus Airframe Parachute System has logged over 700 deployments since 1998, fundamentally changing how light aircraft safety is certified and understood.
Joby Aviation's S4 is the most flight-tested eVTOL in the world, but its six tilting rotors have handed the FAA a certification puzzle unlike anything since the jet age.